Discussing the Technological and Ethical Implications
INTRODUCTION
HISTORY
As mentioned, the function of law enforcement has existed of millennia. At the core of the American law enforcement system is based on the system that we inherited from England when the first colonist came to the New World. For the most part law enforcement was handled by the military class, however local enforcement like Watch Keepers and the like, were generally ineffective. The modern police, men that patrol the streets and keep the peace, is based on the example of Constables, who also often provided some other civil service positions, like land surveyors. This inherited approach continued well after the Revolutionary War was fought and did not begin to change until the 1830s, when Boston established the first centralized, municipal police department in Boston, Massachusetts. Soon after New York City, Chicago, and New Orleans did the same, establishing their own police departments. By the 1880s every major American city had followed suit and established similar organizations (Potter, 2013).Police Departments of the time were very similar and were predicated on the same four general commonalities.
- They are bureaucratic in structure and were entirely publically supported.
- Police Officers must be fulltime employees; they cannot act as volunteers and could not be paid for their assistance per case.
- Departments had very specific rules and procedures that must be followed.
- The Police Departments directly answered to and was accountable to the central government (Potter, 2013).
DISCUSSION
The United States, like the whole of the world, is an incredibly unique and diverse environment. As the nature of crimes has changed so too has much of law enforcement. The mentality and motivations of the law enforcement has changed and adapted right alongside the technologies that benefit their jobs. In other words, the advancements of technology are simply too advantageous to ignore. Much of this technology appears to be influencing or is motivating the philosophy, psychology, and goals of law enforcement in some cases. Technology changes so fast, almost exponentially; what is new today feels obsolete within a few weeks. There are so many fascinating, complex, and unbelievable technologies, scientific interventions, and modern advancements on the horizon, many of which may sound like science fiction. There are some technologies that were on the drawing board a short time ago and are now in active use. Unmanned drones are already being used by the military to gather visual information. “Crime Lights,” flashlights with varying intensities and wavelengths, allow investigators to distinguish more quickly the presence of fibers, fluids, and or hair. This new tool makes the processing of a crime scenes far more efficient (Schultz, 2008). However, these technologies are only the tip of the quintessential ice berg.
Sound and Scent Weapons: Ideally for riot situations, smell and sound based weapons, are developing. Weapons that emit an audio or nasal deterrent that is impossible for the recipient to continue with the illegal behavior. Essentially, in layman’s terms, stink bombs receive an immediate negative response and are helpful when discouraging groups. This is not unlike the logic behind pepper spray. Other such weapons include inventions to induce vomiting or fainting is also on the horizon. The discomfort, smell, taste, and physical reaction is distracting to one exposed. One of its largest forms, the LRAD (Long-Range Acoustic Device). It produces a sound that reaches 95+ decibels, which causes recipients efficiency, and forces them from an aggressive stance to a position that resembles, “a grandmother in front of a speaker at a rock concert” (Miller, 2009).
Microwave Technologies: Everyone has seen a scene in a movie where something alive ends up shut in and cooked in a microwave. What happens? Whatever is in the microwave will ultimately explode. Well, law enforcement may not be planning on exploding criminals but it is that same technology that has led to the invention of ADS (Active Denial System), seen right. The ADS emits targeted, high-frequency microwaves that cause the water in cells and fatty tissues to begin to heat up and breakdown in the body. However, the system is intended for non-lethal solution to mobs, riots, and heavily armored and armed opponents. The target experiences excruciating pain and which will render them no longer a threat (Miller, 2009).
Metamaterial Cloaking Camouflage: Anyone who has ever seen science fiction has heard the term “cloaking device.” A technology that allows ships or people to, essentially, disappears among their surroundings to avoid visual detection. Not unlike a being invisible. The technology employs the use of hundreds of reflective disks that reflect and confuse the image of an onlooker. This metamaterial, essentially makes the user’s fade from existence (Miller, 2009).
Metabolic Supplements: These are not your traditional vitamins. The supplements are designed to increase the performance of a soldier or law enforcement officer, by eliminating his need for sustenance for longer periods of time, improve the mind, reaction time, and coordination. The developers equate these supplements as “Viagra for the whole body” (Miller, 2009).
The Human Machine; Robotic Exoskeleton: If anyone has imagined a real life version of “Robocop” this would be it. The hydraulic powered suit increases the wearer’s strength, agility, and speed. The HULC suit, seen right, which withstands for “Human Universal Load Carrier,” and it was initially designed to allow human beings to lift and carry greater weights with less strain. However, as a law enforcement tool it can give a great deal of advantage to the officers. While the HULC is actively being tested by the military and most recently, similar technologies were implemented in the Orient to aid in the cleanup efforts after a devastating earthquake. It is likely only a matter of time before this technology becomes much more common place in departments all over the country (Miller, 2009).
Nanotechnology: This is another word that has had a lot of buzz throughout science fiction literature. Nanotechnology, seen left, is science and technology at its smallest levels, the molecular, this is the focus of nanotechnologists. Most commonly the research is dedicated to creating molecular robots, the tiniest of machines, which can function and simplify law enforcement well into the future. They can be used against both technological and biological targets alike. This technology could eliminate law enforcement threats at a great distance, other weapons and tools would be far less necessary (Miller, 2009).
Predictive Policing: This concept is achieved by taking data from multiple, unrelated sources and through comparing and contrasting predict future behavior using passed behavior. This concept, experts explain, will change the focus of law enforcement from “focusing on what happened to focusing on what will happen” (Bearsall, 2010). Often called Predictive-analytics software, this sort of predictive data usage evolved in the realm of business. Large companies, like Wal-Mart, use the same approach to predict how and when to stock more or less for certain items, both meeting demand and increasing profit. In law enforcement the appeal comes in the idea that having this foreknowledge of crime will allow them to be better prepared even before crimes have been committed (Kelly, 2014).
All of these technologies will have a huge impact on the approach, conduct, and success of law enforcement across the country. The ideal result, of course, is to eventually completing eliminating crime from the American paradigm, and the more infallible the technologies become, committing crimes may simply become too risky. Unfortunately, that is wishful thinking, as far as many people are concerned. While law enforcement works to continue advancing these technologies that make enforcing the law more efficient, the “bad guys” are out there adapting the same types of advanced technologies, acquired illegally, to counter law enforcements efforts. Sociologically speaking, there will always be crime of some kind, what motivates may change, but it has never been eradicated from civilized nations entirely. This is nothing new. The more advanced guns have become that has never kept them out of the hands of wrong-doers.
It is also becoming abundantly obvious that the level and competencies of new science and technology, has a profound effect on the mentality of law enforcement. Again, the origins of law enforcement stems from the desire to protect the public and aid in enforcing the laws of the land. In its infancy law enforcement detected, identified, apprehended, and jailed suspected perpetrators based on proof and testimony of what they have done. However, predictive policing, for example, looks to eliminate from the public people who will inevitably commit a crime. Fifty years ago, no American would have been comfortable with accusing and punishing someone for a crime they might commit in the future. This hardly something Americans of the past would ever have tolerated. However, that is the power of changing technologies. As we continued to develop our understanding of the world around us and how it works, we believe that just because we have the ability to use this technology we should use it, but this does not necessarily make it accurate, just, or ethical in any way shape or form. For this reason, it seems safe to say, that the mentality and philosophy of law enforcement is changing and evolving into something new as it embraces advance technologies and scientific approaches (Kelly, 2014).
It is also fair to mention that while these inventions and innovations are potentially beneficial, they are also quite costly. There is a need not just for the equipment itself, but maintenance on that equipment, and the proper training for employees to engage the technology. Some law enforcement departments in the United States do not have the budget for new technologies, like big cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Small, local departments often have limited budgets, small staffs using tried and true technologies of the past, and are not eager to change. This inequality of technology might deter crime from metropolitan cities and force them to move to more rural areas where they are less likely to be monitor, identified and interfered with by law enforcement. This would not prevent or eliminate crime just move it.
ISSUES
While all of these technologies offer so many new advancements, there are many Americans and experts that warn caution when it comes to developed technologies. Law enforcement is responsible for upholding the law and order, protecting the innocent public, and preventing or deterring crime has changed. Drones allow people to be spied upon without their knowledge. Predictive policing allows law enforcement to determine crime statistics and those most likely commit crimes before they can commit those crimes. These actions take policing from reactive to proactive, but in some cases the topic begins to slide a slippery ethical slope. Many of the newest technologies have been accused of being invasive and direct invasion of American privacy. Spying on people searching for wrong doings is not traditional for law enforcement. Predictive policing allows people to be identified, monitored, and detained for crimes they have yet to commit. This raises red flags among many Americans (Bearsall, 2010).
Many crimes are punished based on the severity of the crime and the outcome of those behaviors, however, how to assign punishment on someone who has yet to do anything wrong. Finally, many Americans question the implementation of certain types of invasive technologies like nanotechnology, not only due to its trespassing within the body is the unpredictable nature of blending technology and biology. Microwave technologies, like nanotechnology, may come with many unforeseen side effects and consequences that could cause unintended harm. There are other Americans who are concerned because there are two sides to every coin (Kelly, 2014). If this technology can be used by law enforcement to stop criminals from committing crimes, why could it not end up in the wrong hands and be used by wrong doers to benefit the commission of a crime? Additionally, there are issues with the ethical behaviors of those in law enforcement. We have seen many occasions where law enforcement officers have taken advantage of their positions. This has and continues to be a serious problem. If those in law enforcement positions abuse the power and technology at present, could they not do the same in the future? Ethically speaking, it seems that these adaptations to law enforcement remain controversial and will remain a heated topic for many years to come.
SOLUTIONS
The solution to these ethical issues can be resolved. Finding means to ease the public fears of drones “spying” or monitoring their day-to-day activities, which required law enforcement to commit to using the technology with true ethics in their heart. We cannot become so dependent upon the technology new or old, if we forget out own experiences, instincts, and intuitions. Too much technology makes people second guess their human inclinations for purely scientific ones and that is a dangerous and clinical existence. Predictive-policing is absolutely unethical, especially in the United States, if it used to accuse and detain people who have yet to commit any wrong doing based solely upon mathematical algorithms and comparable graphs. Do not release or initiate this technology until all considerations have been taken, including misuse. Preventing the misconduct of individual police officers, units, and task forces by including “In-Car Cameras" has become quite common. These cameras are meant to monitor the activities of officers and their interaction with the public. The intention is to limit the number of officers who behave unprofessionally. No one is insinuating that law enforcement should not take advantage of the advancement of this modern era. Making the world a safer place is a wonderful and worthwhile thing, but it doesn’t means as much if it is unethically obtained. We must never abandon our humanity and ethics completely for the cold calculations of science.
CONCLUSION
In the end, law enforcement has come a long way from village elders and town magistrates who practiced a rudimentary form of justice and law keeping. Today we can determine the guilt of an individual with little or no doubt, in many cases, thanks to the technologies available today. However, some of the technologies on the horizon carry some serious ethical questions of how they will be used and how they might be misused. Our humanity is linked to our ethics; when we abandon our ethics we lose something of our humanity. Many feel that we cannot allow the expression of the law to defy the citizen rights to privacy, autonomy, and justice; if we do then we are failing to uphold the primary rights promised to every American. That said, most people want to live in a safe crime free community, but creating that should to come at the expense of other aspects of being an American or ever infringe upon those rights. Ultimately, technology is likely not to slow in its advancements, but how we relate to it and put it to use is still up to us.
REFERENCES
Bearsall, B. (2010). Predictive policing: The future of law enforcement?. National Institute of Justice, 266. 1. Retrieved from http://www.nij.gov/journals/266/Pages/predictive.aspx
Bellis, M. (2014). Timeline of police technology. Police Technology & Forensic Science, 1-8. Retrieved from http://inventors.about.com/od/fstartinventions/a/forensic_4.htm
Canterbury, C. (2013). The future of law enforcement in the united states of america . National Fraternal Order of Police , 1-9. Retrieved from http://www.fop.net/labor/icpra/3TheFutureofLawEnforcementintheUnitedStatesofAmerica.pdf
Kelly, H. (2014, May 26). Police embracing tech that predicts crimes. CNN News, 1. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/09/tech/innovation/police-tech/
Miller, A. (2009, August 9). Top 10 future law enforcement technologies. Retrieved from http://listverse.com/2011/08/09/top-10-future-law-enforcement-technologies/
Potter, G. (2013). The history of policing in the united states, part 1. Eastern Kentucky University, 1. Retrieved from http://www.plsonline.eku.edu/insidelook/history-policing-united-states-part-1
Schultz, P. D. (2008, June). The future is here: Technology in police departments. Police Chief Magazine, 1. Retrieved from http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=1527&issue_id=62008
